Economy worsens as more Americans give up looking for work

Democrats are hailing new government report showing unemployment has fallen to 8.1 percent in April.
But the real numbers are sobering, and worrisome for millions of Americans.

For one, in eleven of the last twelve months the initial unemployment figure has had to be "revised" to show it was higher than initially reported.  So, in fact, the employment rate may actually have increased in April.

And second, the unemployment rate is calculated as what percentage of the labor force do not have a job and are looking for one.  In April labor force participation plunged to 63.6 percent, the worst it's been since December 1981.

The reason the unemployment rate fell is because the number of Americans who have given up looking for a job growing.  It's certainly not because enough jobs are being created.

Employers added 115,000 jobs last month.  It's the smallest increase in six months.

Even The Washington Post's reliably liberal Ezra Klein tweeted "Unemployment rate down to 8.1%, but for the wrong reason: people dropping out of labor force."

If labor force participation were the same as it were in March the unemployment rate would have risen to 8.4 percent.  Were it the same as when Obama took office, the unemployment rate would be over 10 percent.

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